Why texting harms your IQ

Txts n emails mk ppl stupid coz they R worse than smking pot & lead 2 a st8 of 'infomania'. Read the link below to know why....
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/student/news/article384086.ece

Where Have All the Leaders Gone?

After several years of being away from international limelight or should I say news, Lee Iacocca came up with another book. This time he talks about the leadership qualities America so urgently needs. What I like about this old man is his humorous no-holds barred writing and straight-to-the point analysis that touches the very chord of issues of the day. He captures the zeitgeist of the times in this book.

According to him, true leadership should be tested by nine C's. They're not fancy or complicated. Just clear, obvious qualities that every true leader should have. He purposely avoided ten tests for fear of being accused he is thinkinh like Moses! Using the nine C's he examined George Bush's leadership style as well as those of the frontrunners in the upcoming November 2008 US elections.

CURIOSITY

- He has to listen to people outside of the "Yes, sir" crowd in his inner circle
- He has to read voraciously, because the world is a big, complicated place.
- If a leader never steps outside his comfort zone to hear different ideas, he grows stale.
- If he doesn't put his beliefs to the test, how does he know he's right?
- The inability to listen is a form of arrogance. It means either you think you already know it all, or you just don't care.

CREATIVE
- He should go out on a limb, be willing to try something different - think outside the box
- Leadership is all about managing change—whether you're leading a company or leading a country. Things change, and you get creative.
- He should adapt.

COMMUNICATE
- Facing reality and telling the truth - communication has to start with telling the truth, even when it's painful
- Know how to talk straight.

CHARACTER
- That means knowing the difference between right and wrong and having the guts to do the right thing
- Abraham Lincoln once said, "If you want to test a man's character, give him power."

COURAGE
- Swagger isn't courage. Tough talk isn't courage
- Courage in the twenty-first century doesn't mean posturing and bravado
- Courage is a commitment to sit down at the negotiating table and talk
- If you're a politician, courage means taking a position even when you know it will cost you votes.

CONVICTION
- Fire in the belly - passion.
- Desire to get something done

CHARISMA
- Not really being flashy. Charisma is the quality that makes people want to follow you
- It's the ability to inspire
- People follow a leader because they trust him

COMPETENT
- The ability to know what you're doing
- Ability to surround oneself with people who know what they're doing
- A leader has to be a problem solver

COMMON SENSE
- The only thing you've got going for you as a human being is your ability to reason and your common sense. He said: "If you don't know a dip of horseshit from a dip of vanilla ice cream, you'll never make it."

The World Is Flat

This is the book I'm currently reading. About two years old but still relevant. Below is the summary I've got from wikipedia.

In the book, Friedman recounts a journey to Bangalore, India, when he realized globalization has changed core economic concepts. He suggests the world is "flat" in the sense that globalization has leveled the competitive playing fields between industrial and emerging market countries. In his opinion, this flattening is a product of a convergence of personal computer with fiber-optic micro cable with the rise of work flow software. He termed this period as Globalization 3.0, differentiating this period from the previous Globalization 1.0 (which countries and governments were the main protagonists) and the Globalization 2.0 (which multinational companies led the way in driving global integration).

Friedman recounts many examples of companies based in India and China that, by providing labor from typists and call center operators to accountants and computer programmers, have become integral parts of complex global supply chains for such companies as Dell, AOL, and Microsoft. Friedman's Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention is discussed in the book's penultimate chapter.

Friedman repeatedly uses lists as an organizational device to communicate key concepts, usually numbered, and often with a provocative label. Two example lists are the ten forces that flattened the world, and three points of convergence.


Ten flatteners

Friedman defines ten "flatteners" that he sees as leveling the global playing field:

#1: Collapse of Berlin Wall--11/'89: The event not only symbolized the end of the Cold war, it allowed people from other side of the wall to join the economic mainstream. (11/09/1989)

#2: Netscape: Netscape and the Web broadened the audience for the Internet from its roots as a communications medium used primarily by 'early adopters and geeks' to something that made the Internet accessible to everyone from five-year-olds to eighty-five-year olds. (8/9/1995)

#3: Workflow software: The ability of machines to talk to other machines with no humans involved. Friedman believes these first three forces have become a “crude foundation of a whole new global platform for collaboration.”

#4: Open sourcing: Communities uploading and collaborating on online projects. Examples include open source software, blogs, and Wikipedia. Friedman considers the phenomenon "the most disruptive force of all."

#5: Outsourcing: Friedman argues that outsourcing has allowed companies to split service and manufacturing activities into components, with each component performed in most efficient, cost-effective way.

#6: Offshoring: Manufacturing's version of outsourcing.

#7: Supply chaining: Friedman compares the modern retail supply chain to a river, and points to Wal-Mart as the best example of a company using technology to streamline item sales, distribution, and shipping.

#8: Insourcing: Friedman uses UPS as a prime example for insourcing, in which the company's employees perform services--beyond shipping--for another company. For example, UPS itself repairs Toshiba computers on behalf of Toshiba. The work is done at the UPS hub, by UPS employees.

#9: In-forming: Google and other search engines are the prime example. "Never before in the history of the planet have so many people-on their own-had the ability to find so much information about so many things and about so many other people", writes Friedman.

#10: "The Steroids": Personal digital devices like mobile phones, iPods, personal digital assistants, instant messaging, and voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

Triple Convergence

In addition to the ten flatteners, Friedman offers "the triple convergence," three additional components that acted on the flatteners to create a new, flatter global playing field.

Up until the year 2003, the ten flatteners were semi-independent from one another. However, around the year 2003, all the flatteners converged with one another. This convergence could be compared to complementary goods, in that each flattener enhanced the other flatteners; the more one flattener developed, the more leveled the global playing field became.

After the emergence of the ten flatteners, a new business model was required to succeed. Instead of collaborating vertically (the top-down method of collaboration, where innovation comes from the top), businesses needed to begin collaborating horizontally. Horizontalization means companies and people collaborate with other departments or companies to add value creation or innovation. Friedman's Convergence II occurs when horizontalization and the ten flatteners begin to reinforce each other.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, countries that had followed the Soviet economic model—including India, China, Russia, and the nations of Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Central Asia—began to open up their economies to the world. When these new players converged with the rest of the globalized marketplace, they added new brain power to the whole playing field and enhanced horizontal collaboration across the globe. In turn, Convergence III is the most important force shaping politics and economics in the early 21st century.

Ménage à trois

Ménage à trois is the French term describing a relationship or domestic arrangement in which three people, often a married couple and another lover, share a sexual relationship, although the relationship might or might not involve all three persons having sexual relations with each other.[1] The French phrase literally translates as "household of three".

It is also used to refer to an arrangement where three people share sexual relations, and this has become the predominant definition. Some also use it to describe any sex act involving three people, otherwise known as a threesome. Ménage à trois, two women with one man, has become more common, perhaps due to its presentation in porn films.

There are ménage à trois arrangements involving two men and one woman, and these are also becoming more common. Sometimes ménage à trois is called Hot Wives, referring to a married woman who has sex with men other than her spouse, with the husband's consent. In most cases the husbands take a vicarious pleasure in their wives' enjoyment, or enjoy watching, hearing, or knowing about their wives' adventures. Husbands may also take part by engaging in threesomes, or arranging dates for their wives.

Ten Things About "Heel"

1. To furnish with a heel or heels: To repair or replace the heels, as for shoes.

2. To heel: Arm (a gamecock) with gaffs.

3. To press or strike with the heel: heel a horse.

4. To follow at one's heels: The dog won't heel

5. Out on the heel
a. Having one's shoe heels worn down.
b. Shabby; rundown; poor.

6. Lay by the heels: To put in fetters or shackles; imprison.

7. On/upon the heels of
a. Directly behind.
b. Immediately following.

8. Out at the heel/heels
a. Having holes in one's socks or shoes.
b. Rundown; shabby; seedy.

9. Take to (one's) heels: To run away; flee.

10. To heel
a. Close behind: The hound followed his master to heel.
b. Under discipline or control: The army swiftly brought the rebels to heel.

Mamallapuram in Photos

Mamallapuram, India

My curiosity about Mamallapuram was quenched when I made a trip to this fabled place on March 1, 2008. It is about 58 kilometers from Chennai which took us about a couple of hours. Mamallapuram is a spectacular site built in the 7th century by the Pallava King, Narasimha varman I, also known as Mamalla, " Great Wrestler." Located along the Bay of Bengal, it extends across a boulder strewn landscape and comprise rock caves and monolithic shrines, structural temples and huge bas-reliefs. As I was overwhelmed by the intricacy and beauty of the rock carvings, I wondered how their artists created them without risking their limbs and lives.

At the village center is the celebrated bas-relief known an Arjuna's Penance or the Descent of the Ganges. The panel depicts in great detail the story of the sacred river's decent from the sky. This divine act, made possible by the penance of the sage Bhagiratha, is witnessed on the panel by celestial and semi-celestial beings ascetics and animals. Nearby are the unfinished Panch Pandava Cave Temple and Krishna's Butter Ball, a natural boulder perched precariously on a slope.

There were other artistic depictions of divine and historic significance which we have not covered due to the heat which was unnerving. Nevertheless, from what I've seen, I can already tell how India's early civilizations used their talents to honor the divine.

More Dakshina Chitra Photos

Dakshina Chitra

The workshop on nutrition that I participated in Chennai was for five days; however, most of the sessions from the third day onwards were not relevant to my job. Instead of getting bored at the session hall, my colleague and I went to visit our office branch in the city and met with the officials. The meetings did not go well with so many people we were supposed to meet not turning up. On Friday afternoon, February 29, 2008, we decided to visit some tourist areas in the city. We were brought by the driver assigned to us to several places which not catch our attention. Finally, we visited Dakshina Chitra in East Coast Road, Muttukadu which is about an hour from the hotel. It is like a museum of sorts showcasing different types of traditional houses and crafts of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. After paying the entrance, the staff gave us a map for our self-guided tour of the area. It is like a small village where you hop from one house to another. Inside these houses – fragments of which were part of antique houses somewhere – are dioramas of people engaged in what look like normal day-to-day tasks like weaving and cooking. Here are some photos I took during the visit.

Beautiful Windows

Intricate Doors

Sculptures and Carvings
The Hallway

av·oir·du·pois [àvvər də póyz]

noun

1. measurements. Same as avoirdupois weight
2. somebody's weight: the amount that somebody weighs (humorous)

[14th century. < Old French aveir de peis "goods of weight"]
Microsoft® Encarta® 2008. © 1993-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

BANKER TO THE POOR

BANKER TO THE POOR
Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty
MUHAMMAD YUNUS

I'm currently reading this interesting book on the life of Muhammad Yunus, founder of the renowned Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. Here's the excerpts of the book from http://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/publicaffairsbooks-cgi-bin/display?book=9781586481988


This autobiography of the world-renowned, visionary economist who came up with a simple but revolutionary solution to end world poverty--micro-credit--has become the classic text for a growing movementMuhammad Yunus is that rare thing: a bona fide visionary. His dream is the total eradication of poverty from the world. In 1983, against the advice of banking and government officials, Yunus established Grameen, a bank devoted to providing the poorest of Bangladesh with minuscule loans.

Grameen Bank, based on the belief that credit is a basic human right, not the privilege of a fortunate few, now provides over 2.5 billion dollars of micro-loans to more than two million families in rural Bangladesh. Ninety-four percent of Yunus's clients are women, and repayment rates are near 100 percent. Around the world, micro-lending programs inspired by Grameen are blossoming, with more than three hundred programs established in the United States alone.

Banker to the Poor is Muhammad Yunus's memoir of how he decided to change his life in order to help the world's poor. In it he traces the intellectual and spiritual journey that led him to fundamentally rethink the economic relationship between rich and poor, and the challenges he and his colleagues faced in founding Grameen. He also provides wise, hopeful guidance for anyone who would like to join him in "putting homelessness and destitution in a museum so that one day our children will visit it and ask how we could have allowed such a terrible thing to go on for so long."

The definitive history of micro-credit direct from the man that conceived of it, Banker to the Poor is necessary and inspirational reading for anyone interested in economics, public policy, philanthropy, social history, and business.

Muhammad Yunus was born in Bangladesh and earned his Ph.D. in economics in the United States at Vanderbilt University, where he was deeply influenced by the civil rights movement. He still lives in Bangladesh, and travels widely around the world on behalf of Grameen Bank and the concept of micro-credit. Muhammad Yunus was born in 1940 in Chittagong, a seaport in Bangladesh. The third of fourteen children, five of whom died in infancy, he was educated at Dhaka University and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study economics at Vanderbilt University. In 1972 he became the head of the economics department at Chittagong University. He is the founder and managing director of the Grameen Bank.

Strait and Narrow

A conventional and law-abiding course.

Origin

'Straight' is a much more frequently used word than 'strait' these days and so the most common question about this phrase concerns the spelling - should it be 'strait and narrow' or 'straight and narrow'? Well, that depends on just how pedantic you want to be. The source of the expression is the Bible, specifically Matthew 7:13/14. The King James' Version gives these verses as:
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

That clearly opts for 'strait' rather than 'straight', as it calls on a now rather archaic meaning of strait, that is, 'a route or channel, so narrow as to make passage difficult'. This is still found in the names of various sea routes, e.g. the Straits of Dover. Such a nautical strait was defined in the 1867 version of Admiral Smyth's Sailor's Word-book as:

"A passage connecting one part of a sea with another."
Smyth also offered the opinion that strait "is often written in the plural, but without competent reason".

The 'confined and restricted' meaning of strait still also lingers on in straitjacket, dire straits, strait-laced and straitened circumstances. All of these are frequently spelled with 'straight' rather than 'strait'. These spellings, although technically incorrect, are now widely accepted and only 'dire straights' comes in for any sustained criticism.

The use of 'straight' is quite understandable, certainly in 'straight and narrow'. After all, it means 'direct and reliable', as in the phrase 'as straight as a die', and the imagery of a direct and unwavering route to salvation would have been attractive to Christian believers in the 17th century, when that version of the spelling first appeared. It was included in an 1827 publication of A Journal of George Fox, Volume 1, which claims to be a facsimile reprint of the 1694 original journal. The earliest definitive documentation that I can find comes from a few years later, in

The Critical Works of Monsieur Rapin, 1706:
"The soul of the common people seems too straight and narrow to be wrought upon by any Part of Eloquence."

This version of the phrase is old enough and close enough in date to the earliest example of 'strait and narrow' that I can find in print as to match it in status. That example is in A Vindication of the Government in Scotland: During the Reign of King Charles II, 1712:

"Strait and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life."

'Straight and narrow' is now the more common spelling and you will be in good company if you opt to use it, even though 'strait and narrow' might be a better choice if you want to get high marks in that English language test.

New Friends

At the Nutrition Workshop in Chennai, I gained new friends. One of whom is Dr. Mikey, a dentist from Myanmar. He reminds me of my former colleague and friend in KL Weng. Both are short but funny. Weng is a Chinese and Mikey looks like a Chinese although he's a Burmese.

Brain Scan Study

This is the photo scan of a malnourished child's brain. It has less gray matter which is essential to intellectual development.

Now, here's the photo scan of a health child....

Note that the gray matter covers almost all the spaces of the skull. Experts say that malnutrition causes irreversible damage to children under two.

The Nutrition Workshop Misnomer

Part of my itinerary while India was to participate in a South-Asia Sub-Regional Nutrition Workshop. The five-day workshop (February 25-29, 2008) aimed to develop a sub-regional nutrition strategy to improve capacity and strengthen partnerships to implement interventions to reduce malnutrition (stunting, underweight and anemia) in the region.

Based on recent studies, about 34 percent of world’s malnourished children are found in South Asia. Anemia which is one of the main indicators and precursors of mal/undernutrition is severe in the region affecting 79 percent of children and 58 percent of women in India alone. In addition, 30-60 percent of child mortality under the age of five in the sub-region is closely linked to malnutrition.

Approximately 25 participants composed of World Vision senior program/operations managers and technical staff from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka will take part in the gathering.

Now, why I call it a workshop misnomer? Simply because the workshop was supposed to come up with nutrition strategies for South Asia and each of the participating countries. However, to my horror, during the workshop, the process used by the facilitators was operational planning! Apparently, the workshop team facilitators was composed of management and nutrition technical experts. The nutrition technical experts are extremely competent people but the putatively management “expert” turned out to have a very lame understanding of strategy development. Of course, the technical experts, who were engrossed with their own technical presentations did not realize it until my colleague pointed it out. Some changes were made along the way, but eventually, at the end of the workshop, the participants came up with operational plans rather than strategies.

I’ve learned a lot from the technical aspects of the workshop though. Although common sense tells us that nutrition is very important, I did not realize how essential it is for child survival and well-being and in preventing irreversible brain damage, chronic diseases and mortality. According to a study of brain scan results, an undernourished and sickly child’s brain has lesser gray matter essential for growth and development compared to that of well-nourished and healthy child. Applying economic analysis, an empty brain (otak kosong in Bahasa) results in loss of opportunity with the child eventually becoming society’s burden. In contrast, a smart child experiences life in all its fullness and eventually becomes a society’s resource.

Timing is very critical in addressing under nutrition. Health experts call this “-9 to + 24 mantra.” It means that any nutrition intervention should start from the onset of pregnancy right to delivery and at least until the child is two years old. Undernourished children before the age of two will have irreversible brain damage and will never be able to catch up with their health peers. In South Asia, 27 percent of children are already born undernourished.

To arrest malnutrition, the experts recommend what they call 3 + 6 packages. What are these packages?

- Pregnant women. During pregnancy, women should do the following three things: (1) Two additional meals, (2) Take Iron (Fe/folate) supplements, (3) Undergo deworming after 4 months of pregnancy.

- Under two (additional packages: Once the child is born, the following six things should be undertaken: (1) Exclusive Breast feeding, (2) Complementary feeding after 6 months, (3) Provision of Iron supplements to child, (4) Deworming after 6 months, (5) Taking of ORT, and (6) Vitamin A supplements.

The packages are simple to follow, yet, malnutrition persists due to poverty and ignorance!

Origins of Teddy Bear

Talking of teddy bears, I found out this one from the Fact Monster.

In November 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt and some of his friends went on a hunting trip to Mississippi. After hours of searching, Roosevelt and his group had not come across any wild animals. Finally, the group did track down and surrounded a helpless bear. One of the guides asked the president to shoot the bear so he could win a hunting trophy. The president refused, and news reporters throughout the country spread the story of Roosevelt's kind act.

Not long after this took place, a famous cartoonist named Clifford Berryman drew a cartoon based on Roosevelt 's rescue of the bear. When a store owner in Brooklyn saw the cartoon, he decided to make toy bears to sell in his shop. He asked president Roosevelt for permission to use the name “"Teddy's Bear"” for his toys, as a reminder of the bear Roosevelt had set free.

Nowadays, everyone knows these toys as Teddy Bears, but few people know that they were named after President Theodore “"Teddy"” Roosevelt.

In January 16, 2008, I joined an international non profit in Canada covering the India and Bangladesh portfolio. This Christian organization is a partnership with several support and national offices worldwide. I traveled to India in February 22 as part of my orientation to my new role. The orientation involved participating in a workshop, courtesy calls to the powers that be in the India national office and visits to community development programs.

I travelled with my boss which made my orientation a lot easier as someone expert in the organization’s operations was there to mentor and guide me. We took Emirates Airways via Dubai to Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu. The trip was a bit tiring since we had a layover of about seven hours in Dubai. This is my nth time to India and my first to Chennai, formerly called Madras. Based on the information sent to us by our national office in India, we should change our USD at the airport. That was a big mistake. Aside from a low rate of Rs 36.50, the agent (Thomas Cook) also collected a commission. We later found out that it is Rs 39.50 in the city. First lesson learned: always take the national office’s advice with a grain of salt. Thankfully, we were picked up at the airport, so we did not have to haggle with taxi drivers for your ride to Green Park Hotel in the district of Vadalapani where we were billeted.

We arrived to Chennai on Sunday, February 24th morning. To avoid going to slumber immediately – which will worsen the feeling of jetlag later – we decided to take a look at the city’s surroundings. Of course, the easiest was to visit a mall. We were told by the hotel staff while Chennai has several small shops, the largest is Spencer’s. We took an auto taxi (actually a motorized rickshaw or tricycle) to Spencer’s. The hotel bell boy negotiated for our fare to Spencer’s which was Rs 120. The mall is about five kilometres away. Considering that crowded streets of the city, the trip took longer than initially thought as the driver had to adroitly squeeze the vehicle in between lorries, other auto rickshaws and cars not to mention avoiding people who cross the street without warning. As normal in any Indian city, Chennai is so dusty and excruciatingly humid. Loud honks and shouts filled our ears. The city is replete with movie posters and bill boards. I found our later that Chennai is the epicentre of Kollywood, which is the Tamil counterpart for Hindi tinsel town’s Bollywood in Mumbai.

Spencer is a three or four-storey mall which reminds me of MBK in Bengkoko. It’s underutilized as many spaces are not yet occupied. It contains a mix of internationally-branded outlets and low-quality stuff from China and the middle-East. Lots of bootleg products of course. We had our lunch at the food court and explored a bookstore inside a shop called Landmark. The book store is considered the largest in Chennai, although it is nothing compared to other large book shops in Asia. I bought two books – The Document by Irving Wallace and My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk a Turkish Nobel Prize awardee for literature. Books in India are cheap – about 30 – 50 percent cheaper than US or Canada prices.

The ride back to the hotel was a real headache. We had to negotiate with several auto taxi drivers. The first driver we approached asked Rs 250 citing bad traffic at the time. I reasoned that the traffic in India is bad all the time anyway. When I said that we only paid Rs 120 on our way to Spencer’s, the driver got clever. He said the return trip is much longer by two kilometres since we have to make several U-turns. Obviously, we attracted attention as other drivers joined the fray. When we decided to talk to other drivers, the first one we approached lowered his price saying we will only pay Rs 200 but on condition that he would show us some shops along the way (where he presumably gets commission – what a racket!!!). I raised my hands in frustration and shouted NO and proceeded to look for other drivers. He followed us and offered Rs 150. It was getting dark so we relented. On arrival to the hotel we gave him the Rs 150 and he protested saying we agreed on Rs 180. I called the hotel bell boy to deal with him. Only when we were inside the hotel, I found out that we actually agreed on Rs 180 when my colleague told me about it. The problem was I did not hear it right. I felt guilty of course but well, this people are really trying to milk foreigners out.

That was a (mis) adventure! By the time we reached the hotel, it was already about 8pm and I was a bit tired. I tried not to sleep too soon and succeeded. The hotel is quite expensive. For Rs 4,500 (more than USD 100) the hotel room looks very basic. However, there is a kettle for free coffee and tea. Two liters of water, two bottles of softdrinks, chocolates and a mix of snacks are also for the taking daily. On top of that, there is broadband Internet connection which made our communication with the outside world much convenient. Not bad, afterall!

St. Thomas Basilica

Do you know that there are only three churches in the world built atop a tomb of an apostle of Christ? These are the St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican, the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela (St. James) in Spain and the St. Thomas Basilica in Channai in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. On March 1, 2008, I was blessed to visit St. Thomas Basilica and pray before the remains of St. Thomas. The basilica, which is smaller compared to its counterparts in other part of the world, is situated along one of Chennai's marinas. Gracing the walls of the church are paintings of Christ and His apostles with inscriptions highlighting their famous words and contributions in Christian faith.

The basilica is considered as the center for Christian pilgrimage in India and the main church for the Mylapore-Chennai archdiocese. It was declared an international shrine in 2006. Underneath the basilica is a chapel which houses the remains and relics connected to St. Thomas. It has a separate access outside of the church to allow pilgrims to pray to St. Thomas without disturbing the functions of the church. It looks like a dungeon - dark but gives an ambience of calmness and serenity. From the photos at the entrance of the chapel, I gathered that Pope John Paul II paid homage to the apostle known for doubting the resurrected Christ during one of his visits to India. Displayed in front of the chapel is a glass oesophagus which encases a ceramic sculpture of St. Thomas which purportedly cloaks his remains .

The church was built by the Portuguese in the 16th century and was rebuilt by the British in 1893 using the neo-Gothic architectural design. St. Thomas the doubter is said to have preached in Chennai between 52 to 72 AD and was killed in what is now known as the St. Thomas Mount.